Know Your Rights

Workplace Discrimination

If you have experienced discrimination in the workplace please contact us at legal@lablackworkercenter.org for help in filing discrimination claims and other legal support.

Department Of Fair Employment and Housing

The Department of Fair Employment and Housing is the state agency charged with enforcing California’s civil rights laws. The mission of the DFEH is to protect the people of California from unlawful discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations and from hate, violence, and human trafficking.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.

The minimum wage for workers in Los Angeles County increased to $10.50 in July of 2016 and will increase to $15.00 by the year 2020.

All employers in L.A. County must post the required workplace poster and pay the increased minimum wage, with few exceptions.

The Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs enforces the new minimum wage in L.A. County and works with employees and employers to ensure that violations of the County’s minimum wage law are identified, addressed, and remedied in a timely and effective manner.

Wage theft is the illegal practice of not paying workers for all of their work including; violating minimum wage laws, not paying overtime, forcing workers to work off the clock, and much more. It is a major problem statewide. In Los Angeles alone, low-wage workers lose $26.2 million in wage theft violations every week–making it the wage theft capital of the country.1

This infographic from the UCLA Labor Center goes into more detail. Click image for full-size version.

When you get sick, you shouldn’t need to worry about losing pay or even your job. It seems like a simple concept. But the United States is the only country among 22 developed nations that doesn’t guarantee the right to paid leave if someone falls ill or has to care for a sick family member. Millions of workers in the country don’t have access to paid sick leave.

That has changed in a few places around the country including California.

Starting July 1, 2016, all Employers, except for Employers with 25 or fewer Employees, are required to provide paid sick leave according to the Los Angeles Minimum Wage Ordinance (MWO).

The paid sick leave will be provided to all Employees who work at least two hours in a particular week in the City of Los Angeles for the same Employer for 30 days or more within a year. Employers with 25 or fewer Employees begin providing sick leave benefits on July 1, 2017.